Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-02-10
SOUTH CAROLINA MOONSHINERS.
They are Becoming More Active and are Defy
ing the Revenue Officers.
Charleston News

They are Becoming More Active and are Defy
ing the Revenue Officers.
Charleston News
The shooting of United States deputy
marshall Elkin, while on his way to join a
party of revenue raiders near CLASSY
mountain, few days ago, and the cap
ture of two blockade whisky sellers at
Piedmont on Saturday, recall to mind
the time, ten or twelve years ago, when
such occurrences were every day happen
ings in this section, writes a Greenville,
S. c.. correspondent of the Charleston
News.
Those were the days when Redmond the
bold outlaw, and the hero Of bloody raids
was in the zenith of his glory, and per-
haps no better illustration of the change
in the condition of the section from then
to now could be given than the picture of
the leader of the mOOnshiners as he was
then and as is now. Then he was the
leader of the many bold and desperate
gang of men who were engaged in cheat
ing the government out of the tax on the
whiskev they were distilling from the
corn of their fields. He had killed his
man and price had been set on his head
for which he was bounded and hunted
relentlessly by the minions of the federal
government. His name was on every
lip, thrilling accounts werere given of his
deeds and daring, and his notoriety was
second to that of the James brothers OR
Murrin the h1ghwayman.
Now, the slide moves and the picutures
show the famous moonshiner peacefully
and quietly at work on his farm in the
rugged mountain section of upper Pick
ems, trying to restore the health and Wig
or wasted away by long term of con-
fnement in Albany penitentiary. The
out law who had defed the government
from his mountain fastness was content
to petition piteously for pardon from
republican president, and then to come
home and live the life of a peace-loving
citizen.
In those days the section around CLASSY
mountain, a spur of the Blue Ridge
crowned with cliff of granite several
hundred feet high was a favorite STAMP
ing ground" of the noonshiners. Since
the general amnesty offered by the govern
ment in 1876, and the arrest, trial and
convictioA of Redmond, however, the
business has declined.
Shilling has been carried on, but in a
quiet way. Ar occasional raid has suffic-
ed to keep the section tolerably clear.
L l0lT TdlOS were uOb UlOOuy OucS dS III
former years, when the revenue officer
was continually in danger and peril, and
when raid usually insured one or more
bloody skirmishes with the moonshin-
ers.
1t has come to be al unusual thing for
resistance to be offered, and revenue
raids have come to be more like "picnics"
than armed expeditions. Then too, much
of the old prejudice against revenue Off
GERS has worn away since the appointment
of home men to those positions has
given the service more savory reputa-
ton.
Within a twelvemonth, however, the
blockaders have apparently sprung into
renewed activity, and the firing on Dep
uty Marshall Elkin appears to intimate
temperance of the old spirit. The
deputy had information that the ralding
party of Deputy Collector Black, which
was in the neighborhood of CLASSY noun
tain, was likely to be attacked, and had
left the city in order to join the posse
and give them warning. he was fred up